Paige's 1 year polka dot party!

  Ben flew in to WA the night before Paige's birthday- there was no way we were celebrating without him! We spent the day playing on the lake, skyped with Ben's parents so Paige could show off her walking skills and say "hi" over and over, and then had some of the Warning side of the family come over for a little party.

Firetruck my dad made and red wagon from when I was little

Red velvet cake and cupcakes

Paige was lucky enough to have great-grandparents at the party

The party-goers

Paige was a very cute birthday girl. She liked opening presents, although didn't understand why we kept taking them from her, she wanted to just sit and play with the first one.

 She loved all the baby dolls she got, and now hugs, kisses, and carries them around.

Then on to the cake! Thank goodness I have a patient family to go along with my crazy demands in decorating help. And a huge thank you to Brandon for making Paige's adorable cake! Don't know what I would have done without his skills!

 At first she was hesitant, looking at us like, "are you really letting me eat this"?, but then she discovered there was cake underneath all that yummy frosting and really dove in. We eventually had to pull her away from it.

And then I realized why maybe red frosting and red velvet cake aren't the best idea with a 1 year-old.... Thank goodness for the outside shower.

After some fresh pajamas she was ready to play again.

With her great-grammie

We love our little girl so much and can't believe she is already 1!

Stars and Stripes

My parents love all things patriotic, so the 4th of July is always fun at their house. The driveway is lined with flags, there are all forms of red and blue table settings, and patriotic CDs to belt to in the car. We also usually have a big gathering with my mom's side of the family. And this year did not disappoint.

Sunday before the 4th, in patriotic outfits of course!

 In keeping with tradition, Gayle's family came the night before to watch the town fireworks (which are overrated, but we entertain ourselves by singing patriotic songs). Then Judd's family came the next day for a BBQ.

Cutest cheeks around

Paige's first tractor ride

That night we celebrated Brandon's birthday and got in some more play time.

Everything is a hat

Cousins!

We fell asleep to crazy fireworks on the lake, while Ben enjoyed fireworks with the Adams and Chungs in Illinois. Stars and stripes forever!

Summer in WA/ Paige 11 months

The very end of May, Paige and I headed to Washington to stay with my parents for 6 weeks, while Ben finished up his work at Sears and stayed with different friends (thanks again Nelsons, Andrews, and Quinns!). It was hard being away from Ben, but we were glad we could get so much family time in WA before we headed to Duke.

She did awesome on the flight!

The first week we were there Paige had some major events: she learned how to say "hi", turned 11 months, and learned how to WALK!

She took her first steps the night before she turned 11 months. She lunged from the coffee table to my mom on the couch, and then did it again while trying to get pretzels from my dad. Ben was, needless to say, crushed that Paige did this while he was gone, but I called him immediately and he saw her walk on skype that night. Soon she was walking all over the house!

My mom, sister, and I did our first "race". We did the 3k walk for Retts Syndrome, but ended up running almost the whole thing. We were very proud of ourselves (we are not natural runners) and it was surprisingly a lot of fun!

(excuse all the blurry phone pics, most are ones I would text to Ben)

Smiling for a picture for daddy

Nightly snacks with Grandma and Grandpa

Walk around the lake with Grandma Jean

Licking the knobs...kind of weird...

Paige got her first bad goose egg from hitting the coffee table. Here's my parents trying to console her with books and holding an ice pack to her forehead. 

It really was only hot for like 10 days the whole time I was there (to the point where we had to go buy Paige warmer clothes), but on those hot days we took full advantage!

She LOVED Leo and followed him all around

BBQs outside! This girl loves baked beans!

One day after swimming I put her down for a nap in just her diaper. When I came to check on her I found this: one nakey baby with the diaper thrown to the corner of the crib.

She loved crawling through the coffee table "tunnel"

I was able to see a lot of friends while I was home...

-One day we met up with my best friend Jamie and her little girl, Sailor, at the Children's Museum. The girls loved running around/eating lentils off the ground, and Jamie and I had a great time catching up.

-My adorable friend, Kate, from college just happened to be passing through town. It was so fun chatting with her and meeting her husband and cute little boy.

-My old roommate and fellow Hampton nanny survivor, Stefi, had her wedding reception in Seattle. So glad she married someone from WA so I could see her and meet her new hubby (who Paige immediately loved!).

-I was able to get together twice with my friends from high school. I had forgotten how much fun those girls are and how much they make me laugh.

Ben was apart from us for Father's Day, so we sent him a "Super Hero" package full of fun little surprises.

And this picture pretty much sums up the 5 weeks we were apart (before Ben flew to WA). Whenever Paige would start to hear the "skype calling noise", she would immediately say "Daddy, hi daddy". She seriously thought her dad lived in the computer. When Ben came to WA, it was too late for Paige to go with me, so he saw her in the morning. We had them skype from different rooms, and then Ben walked in to see her. Totally freaked her out. After a few minutes she was excited to have her daddy back.